Folk metal

Folk metal
Folk metal
Stylistic origins	Heavy metal, Folk
Cultural origins	Early to mid 1990s across Europe and the Middle East
Typical instruments	Electric guitar - Bass - Drums - Vocals - Folk instruments
Subgenres
	Celtic metal - Oriental metal - Medieval metal; (complete list)
Fusion genres
	Viking metal
Regional scenes
	Germany − Ireland - Scandinavia - Baltic states - Russia

Folk metal is a type of heavy metal music that started in Europe in the 1990s. This music is a mixture of heavy metal and traditional folk music. Many times, folk instruments are used in it. Sometimes traditional singing styles are also used.

The earliest example of folk metal was the English band Skyclad. Their first album, The Wayward Sons of Mother Earth was made in 1990. In 1994 and 1995 more folk metal bands appeared in Europe and Israel. Some of these early bands were the Irish band Cruachan, the Israeli band Orphaned Land, and the German band Subway to Sally. Each band started to develop their own type of folk metal. These styles became Celtic metal, Oriental metal and Medieval metal.

In the 1990s, folk metal was not well known and there were not many folk metal bands. In the early 2000s, folk metal became a lot more popular. It was very popular in Finland. Some folk metal bands in Finland were Ensiferum, Turisas, Korpiklaani, Finntroll and Moonsorrow.

Different bands play folk metal music in different ways. A lot of different instruments are also used. Many bands have six or more members so they can play many different instruments at the same time. A few bands also use keyboards to make the sound of folk instruments. Lyrics in folk metal are normally about nature, fantasy, mythology and history.

Folk Metal Media

Subway to Sally, seen here performing live at the 2005 Sundstock Openair, has been credited as setting off medieval metal.
A.A. Nemtheanga fronts the Irish Celtic black metal act Primordial.
Orphaned Land is a leading performer of oriental metal.
Nine Treasures performing at WOMEX 15, Budapest
Finntroll is a prominent folk metal band with a specific interest in trolls and humppa.
Jonne Järvelä of Korpiklaani played acoustic folk music for five years before turning his attention to folk metal.
With influences that include Dream Theater, the Faroe Islanders Týr blend progressive metal with folk music.
Spanish folk metal band Mago de Oz performing in 2013 in Torrent, Spain.
Eluveitie are seen here performing at the 2007 Cernunnos Fest in Paris, France, with a mandola, tin whistle and violin.
Skyforger, seen here performing with bagpipes at the 2007 Cernunnos Fest in Paris, France, initially mostly relied on a guest musician to perform folk instruments before inviting him to be a fully fledged member of the band.